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eBay Help Needed...

I listed some seeds on eBay that were listed as only shipping within the United States, as it is illegal to ship Nepenthes seeds between countries without proper permits. I also don't want to deal with international shipping or the costs of that... By the time the seeds got there, they'd be significantly less viable anyway.

So my problem is that someone from China who cannot speak English decided to buy two and never pay. On the day they requested an invoice, I sent them a message (in English) through the eBay resolution center, telling them we needed to cancel the transaction. No response a week later. I sent them another message yesterday before 9:00 AM in China. I used Google translate and had a friend validate that what I was sending made sense -- I told them I don't ship to China and we needed to cancel the transaction. Still no response.

These messages are being sent through the eBay resolution center... I don't see eBay doing anything about it. What am I supposed to do if they buyer doesn't / won't / can't agree to cancel the transaction? I never offered international shipping. They either can't speak English, or don't care the cancel the transaction. I'm fearing I'll get feedback saying "BAD!!!" within a couple weeks and I won't be able to do anything about it.

For those of you experienced with eBay, what do I do in this situation?

1. Talk to the buyer
You can't cancel a transaction yourself. In order to receive a final value fee credit, the buyer needs to agree to cancel the transaction. You may also receive a final value fee credit if the buyer doesn't respond to your request.Contact your buyer and ask the buyer to agree to cancel the transaction. Also, let the buyer know that you'll be opening a case in our Resolution Center to start the process. Learn more about communicating with your buyer.

1. Talk to the buyer
You can't cancel a transaction yourself. In order to receive a final value fee credit, the buyer needs to agree to cancel the transaction. You may also receive a final value fee credit if the buyer doesn't respond to your request.Contact your buyer and ask the buyer to agree to cancel the transaction. Also, let the buyer know that you'll be opening a case in our Resolution Center to start the process. Learn more about communicating with your buyer.

I did that immediately once I realized the buyer was from China. I sent them a message asking them to cancel the transaction and that I opened a case in the Resolution Center. The ignored that, so I sent them a second message which was also ignored.

Not sure what to do now, because the buyer isn't agreeing or can't agree due to a language barrier... Not sure what to do now.

Nepenthesis you can cancel the transaction from your end, if he goes ahead and pays just refund the money immediately. I had a guy from Australia buy some of my terrarium background clay, I can't ship it overseas. I did finally get him to cancel his transaction this morning. But you can initiate the cancellation from your end, ebay just makes you wait to see if the buyer agrees.

Next time you do a listing make sure you look in the "international shipping" section of the listing page. eBay automatically checks the "send to US shipping center" box on newer accounts so even if you don't offer International shipping, if you don't uncheck that "send to US shipping center" box it will appear to buyers as if you actually do offer international shipping.

And no, I've never used that international shipping center thing, as I understand it, the buyer must pay US shipping and then shipping from eBay to them so they get hit twice for postage, and international postage is outrageous already.

I got pulled into this one. The "shipping center" is in Kentucky, and they ship out from there. A friend who is a former airplane mechanic says it is a large shipping/etc. hub...he worked on lots of aircraft there. Since Ebay takes at a minimum at least 10% of the total amount of your auction, sales price plus shipping...if you have a $100 shipping fee, you will eat at least $13 of that, between Ebay and Paypal. I sold a turntable to a fellow in Germany
and when I generated the shipping label (their terms) it showed one amount - my listed amount on the auction, and when you print out the shipping label it shows something entirely different. Reflecting not only the difference in $ to Euros, but also the larger amount the recepient paid into the ISP on their end. I still don't understand it, but it seems they charge you both a bit less than the total, and pocket the difference, with fees accumulating at every step of the process. Not very transparent to say the least. As mentioned by swords, in my case even though I did not offer international shipping, the auction must have given this fellow the option to bid, even though logically you would think one would follow the other, no international shipping offered, no international bids wanted, right? No in their bizarro alternate universe.